AQUEOUS HYALURONIC-ACID CONCENTRATION - COMPARISON IN PEDIATRIC AND ADULT PATIENTS

Purpose. To determine if there is an age-related increase in human aqu eous hyaluronic acid (HA) concentration. Methods. HA concentrations we re measured in 102 specimens of human aqueous humour obtained during i ntraocular surgery. Patient age ranged from one month to 93 years. Mea surement of the HA concentration in the specimens was performed by a m odified ELISA-like assay using a biotinylated HA-binding peptide. Resu lts. An approximate five-fold increase in the mean aqueous HA concentr ation was observed between the pediatric (0.33 mu g/ml, n = 5) and the adult patients (1.72 mu g/ml, n = 97, p < 0.0002). Among the adult pa tients, however, there was a poor correlation between age and aqueous HA concentration. Conclusions. Adult aqueous humor has a significantly higher HA concentration than aqueous obtained from pediatric patients . The source of this increase is unclear, but may be from anterior seg ment production of HA, or alternatively, from anterior diffusion of vi treous HA.